Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 21 October 2025
Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement
Healthcare Provision: Discussion
2:00 am
Professor Deirdre Heenan:
It came out a little bit later but the particularly disappointing part of that strategy, which was a mental health strategy, is that there are clear opportunities to work on an all-island basis because, as I said, depression is not different in Donegal from what it is in Derry. It does not really matter, in some cases, where those services are delivered and we can learn from each other about suicide in rural areas, for example. We are told, on the one hand, by some of our people in charge of health that all sorts of things are going on, but when you actually drill down to it, it goes back to my original point. There is a world of difference between co-operation, co-ordination and collaboration. I would really like that, in the near future, we get to collaboration.
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